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Tea farmers across Uganda are facing a looming crisis, with several processing factories on the brink of closure.

This is on account of the low prices of the crop, which has forced some of the tea farmers to uproot the trees in favour of the more lucrative coffee growing and other ventures.

However, the farmers under the umbrella body, the Uganda Tea Outgrowers Association (UTOA), insist all is lost and have appealed to the government to support their strategy, which they think can save the sub-sector.

The farmers led by Mr Onesimus Matsiko, the chairperson of UTOA, want the government to allocate Shs41 billion to rejuvenate tea production.

“This will reduce farmers’ reliance on processing factories to provide financing for primary production. Farmers will also have the capacity to supply green leaf to factories and wait for leaves to go through the cash cycle before factories make payments,” the farmers say.

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